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Monday, November 10, 2014

Orson Scott Card's "Shadows In Flight"...A Book Review

Last week I finished Orson Scott Card's Shadows In Flight, the most recent in the Ender's Shadow book series.

And I have to say, until Card finishes the series with the last book, I'm going to be a sad reader. I want to read more of the Enderverse.

Shadows In Flight differs from the previous books in the series in one major way. It centers on Bean and three of his children (all the books in the series focus on Bean...), but this book concentrates on one story, one adventure. And in so doing, is a much shorter book than the others. In the audiobook version that I read/listened to, the author explains how the book came to be, and why--even though it's short--it is an important story in the saga.

A theme I've noticed throughout series is the rise of super children, geniuses that dictate public policy, create armies, overthrow countries, basically they run the world, and by extension, the universe. I'm not sure if Card wants to show how a program isolating and training the best and brightest children and training them to fight and kill could lead to disastrous consequences. Or maybe the author has just found a unique and very cool way of creating unlikely heroes and protagonists. Card's probably explained his actions somewhere. If so, I haven't found it yet.

The theme of genius children continues in Shadow In Flight. If his children weren't so brilliant, they would not have survived their challenge. But they are so they do. If you're interested in this book I recommend you begin with the first book in the series, Ender's Shadow, and go from there. Of course, I think if you never read any stories in the Enderverse, or in the Ender's Shadow series, you could enjoy this story. It's concise and an engaging story.

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Who Am I?

Husband, Father, Writer, just your ordinary crime-fighting blogger, father of 4, husband of 1, owner of a dog, owned by 2 cats. I am a writer of the award winning short film, Wrinkles, and writer of the upcoming feature film, Edwin.